US scientist.
She was one of the most important figures in the history of genetics; discovered mobile "jumping" genes; won Nobel Prize, 1983.

There is no question that plants have [all] kinds of sensitivities. But just because they sit there, anybody walking down the road considers them just a plastic area to look at, [as if] they're not really alive.

I know [my corn plants] intimately, and I find it a great pleasure to know them.

If you know you are on the right track, if you have this inner knowledge, then nobody can turn you off. . . no matter what they say.

I've just been so interested in what I was doing [genetic research] that I never thought of stopping, and I just hated sleeping. I can't imagine having a better life.

When you know you're right, you don't care what others think. You know sooner or later it will come out in the wash.

Published Sources for
the above Quotations:

F:

In "A Feeling for the Organism: The Life and Work of Barbara McClintock," by Evelyn Fox Keller, 1983.

R:

In "A Feeling for the Organism: The Life and Work of Barbara McClintock," by Evelyn Fox Keller, 1983.

A:

In "Webster's Electronic Quotebase," ed. Keith Mohler, 1994.

N:

In "Time," 24 Oct 1983.

K:

"Honoring a Modern Mendel," by Claudia Wallis, in "Time," 24 Oct 1983.